Jon Green easily won his June primary election. But JC Dems have mixed feelings about it.
Facing multiple challengers, he pulled out 49% of the popular vote, finishing nearly 20% higher than the second place candidate. And he won 13 of 14 precincts, losing the 14th by only three votes. This looks curiously similar to Green’s last election in 2022. In that one, he faced a spirited primary challenge from a Democratic Party insider.
But there’s something curious about Green’s appeal to the electorate. Consistently, he’s more popular with independents and in the general election than with the loudest and most active members of his own party.
That’s worth thinking about.
A few weeks before the primary, I made the following post on Facebook: Democrats should carefully reflect on why they don’t like Jon Green. I suspect the answer to that question says a lot about why most Iowans dislike their party and why their party, as presently constituted, has no long-term electoral viability in Iowa.
In re-posting here, I wanted to raise the challenge for a broader audience. JC Dems should think about why they don’t like Jon Green. And they should think about what this says about their prospects of building a party that can compete in electoral cycles that aren’t nationwide blue waves (i.e., most of them).
